The default route is another name for gateway, and is listed there, but you don't "make" your IP static unless it is a local address assigned by your router. Normally your ISP assigns you a dynamic address, and that is what you have to use. Rather than try some random voodoo you should try asking a question about the real problem you are having and hopefully get a proper fix.

This website explains how the network and broadcast addresses can be calculated via a netmask and a computer's ip address. To simplify that article: network is the lowest possible address in the range of ip addresses left over from the netmask. broadcast is the highest numbered ip address in that range. The "range of ip addresses left over from the netmask" is known as the local network.

"The network" typically means everyone above you, including the Internet. To get to "the network", the network address is used. In reality, most people call "the network" anything with ethernet cables that can talk to each other.

Example: your ISP gives you info to type into a wireless router: a static IP address of 99.1.81.209 and your netmask is 255.255.255.224. Now you're wanting to set up an ubuntu firewall and need to set up your public interface:

ip addr , this show you an overview of your NIC settings
route -n , it gives you a nice overview of where your traffic is going.
cat /etc/resolv.conf for dns info
cat /etc/hosts for preloaded hostnames

Changing to a static IP address will not affect your browsing speed though. The only difference between static and dynamic is that on static, you always have the same IP address. With dynamic, you will be assigned a "random" IP address by your DHCP server when you connect to the network. Once you have been assigned an IP address, it will behave exactly the same way as if you had assigned yourself a static IP addresss.